A Nightmare in San Zucchini
by Cullen
Summary: An Attack of the Killer Tomatoes fanfic. A scary tomato fiend keeps terrorizing Chad in his dreams and Dr. Gangreen finds a way to make things worse.


Hello everyone. This here is my first attempt at writing an Attack of the Killer Tomatoes fanfic. This story takes place in the first season. And the Killer Tomatoes cartoon series are property of Marvel and Fox. So here we go.

A Nightmare in San Zucchini

By Cullen Pittman

In the town of San Zucchini on a quiet sunny day, we see 10 year old Chad Finletter, riding his skateboard, delivering a Tomatoless Pizza.

"I wonder what Uncle Wilbur made this time?" said Chad looking at the paper stuck on the box. "A yam, eggplant, caramel, and kumquat pizza?" asked Chad turning green. "That spells YECK! Whoever eats this is sure to get nightmares!"

"Or maybe you'll get nightmares by not eating it!" said a dark and creepy voice.

"Who said that?" gasped Chad. He looked around and found no one in sight. Just then, Chad saw the pizza box rumble while scary music played in the background. Suddenly, the box popped open and out came a floating pizza with scary green eyes and a sharp toothy mouth.

"What did Uncle Wilbur do to this pizza!" cried Chad, slipping off his skateboard and falling onto the sidewalk.

"You know, kid", said the monster pizza that suddenly grew to a large size. "We pizzas always wondered what our noble pizza delivery boys taste like." And he stuck out a long red tongue and seized Chad with it.

"AAAAH!" screamed Chad as he was pulled into the dark mouth. Then he found himself falling down a cauldron covered with red hot boiling sauce while monster tomatoes were laughing at him. Some of the tomatoes transformed into the heads of guys with glasses repeating, "TOMATOES!" Chad closed his eyes in fear. But in the darkness, he suddenly saw his teenage friend Tara.

"Tara?" asked Chad. Just then, a large salt shaker with the same monster face the pizza had appeared and dumped a huge ocean of sodium all over Tara.

"NOOOO!" cried Chad as he watched the girl transform into a small motionless tomato and get washed away by the salt until it landed into the mouth of a tomato shark. "TARA!" cried Chad. He then opened his eyes and found himself trapped in some kind of maze.

Suddenly, a large tomato started to appear in the maze next to Chad. The tomato slowly turned around and revealed a huge Pac Man like mouth with chomping jaws. Chad ran as the Pac Tomato chased him throughout the maze trying to avoid and jump over the cherries, apples, and huge pretzels in his way. Finally, the Pac tomato trapped Chad in its mouth and transformed into some kind of tomato shaped jail cell.

"No, let me out!" cried Chad, shaking the bars of his vegetable prison. Just then, he saw a long vine-like claw pick up the tomato jail. Chad was now looking into the green eyes of a scary looking man in a brown fedora hat, a red and black striped sweater, and brown pants. And his head was a giant tomato with green eyes and sharp teeth. Just like the monster pizza and salt shaker.

"Greetings, young master Chad", said the man with the same monstrous voice. "My name is Eddie Fruiter. My hobbies are basket weaving, listening to songs from the 70's, and, let's see, what else? I know! SCARING THE LIVING SOULS OUT OF HELPLESS CHILDREN! HA HA HA HA!" And Eddie stuck a sharp green finger into the tomato jail as Chad crawled to the back wall in fear. "NOOO!" cried Chad as the pointy claw was about to jab his throat.

Just then, Chad woke up in his bed screaming. He looked around and found himself safe and sound in his bedroom. "Whew!" said Chad wiping the sweat from his brow. "It was only a drea…." Chad suddenly felt something on his neck. "BLOOD!" gasped Chad nervously, but then thought for a second and tasted it. "Ketchup?" wondered Chad. And then he saw something written on his pajama sleeve in ketchup. "See you the same time tomorrow night. Hugs and slashes, E.F."

The next day, we find ourselves at Finletter's Tomatoless Pizza Palace. Chad was sitting at the counter still shaken from last night. He was clutching onto an unopened bottle of soda. "That was only a nightmare", whispered Chad. "There's no such thing as a scary tomato man in a brown fedora hat." Just then, a tomato with a brown fedora hat rose from the counter.

"YIKES!" screamed Chad as he hid under the stools. He suddenly heard some cute little squeaks. Chad slowly looked up and saw it was really the cute and harmless fuzzy tomato, F.T, wearing a hat. F.T. made a concerned squeak for Chad.

"F.T., you bad tomato", called out Tara. "You took that hat from that customer who just left, didn't you?" F.T. blushed an even darker red and sped off somewhere leaving the hat behind.

"Is he gone?" asked Chad, still hiding under the stools.

"Why are you suddenly afraid of sweet little F.T.?" asked Tara. "Are you worried he might steel your baseball cap too?"

"Oh, it's nothing", said Chad getting back on his stool with an obviously huge fake smile.

"Are you sure?" asked Tara concerned. "You seem to be really jittery these past few days."

"I'm… I'm not jittery", said Chad opening up his soda bottle. The bottle exploded and Chad was covered with grape fizz.

"Oh dear", said Tara taking a towel and wiping Chad dry. "Okay, Chad. Start spilling!"

"I already am", said Chad showing her the soda slowly fizzing out of the bottle.

"That's not what I meant", demanded Tara, "Why are you acting so nervous and fearful? I've never seen you act this way before."

"You wouldn't understand", moaned Chad, "You're actually a tomato disguised as a girl. You probably don't know what it's like to dream or have nightmares."

"I'll have you know that we tomatoes have been dreaming ever since we were little sprouts", said Tara crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry", said Chad. "I didn't mean to say that. I'm just going through a lot on my mind. I just never knew vegetables could dream or even sleep."

"I've had a few nightmares during my early days in the garden", said Tara. "One time, I dreamt that I was splattered all over spaghetti in an Italian restaurant. And these two cartoon dogs kept eating me and rolling meatballs on me with their cold wet noses. I just get goose bumps thinking about that dream!"

"That nightmare is nothing compared to the ones I've been having", said Chad shivering. "This tomato headed fiend has been attacking and terrorizing me in my dreams for the past three nights."

"Tomato fiend?" gasped Tara. "You mean killer tomatoes can attack in dreams too? What does this fiend look like?"

"He's too horrible to describe", trembled Chad. "But he has a vicious tomato shaped head, a dirty brown fedora hat, and long pointy claws." Just then, a shadow of the same fiend appeared on the wall, raising a huge claw.

"LIKE HIM!" shouted Chad as he hid back under the stools.

"Relax, Chad", said Tara dragging him back up. "It's just your Uncle." Chad looked up and saw his Uncle Wilbur wearing a gardening hat and holding a mini-rake.

"Don't mind me, kids", said Wilbur. "I was just doing some gardening in the back. I'm planning a new pizza recipe with lima beans and skunk cabbage."

"Eyeeew!" groaned Tara.

"I sure hope I'm not asleep right now!" said Chad, nervously.

"You've been having that Eddie Fruiter dream again, have you?" asked Wilbur.

"Eddie Fruiter?" asked Tara.

"WHERE!" cried Chad turning his head around in a panic.

"Relax, Chad-boy. You're awake right now", said Wilbur. "I think the reason you've been having these nightmares is from eating too much of my famous chocolate, onion, and bratwurst pizzas before bed."

"Um, yeah, that might be it", said Chad. And it showed a flashback of Chad stuffing the pizza into F.T.'s mouth when Wilbur's back was turned.

"You know, Chad", said Wilbur. "You might not believe this. But I have nightmares every single night."

"Really?" asked Chad.

"When you're a war veteran like me, that's very common", said Wilbur. "My dreams were mostly my gory Tomato War flashbacks."

"How can you take such nightmares every night?" asked Chad.

"I just realize that dreams aren't real at all", said Wilbur. "When I realize I'm just in one of my war nightmares, I just remember that I'm in control. And I use my old soldier skills to defeat those dream demons and I wake up refreshed and victorious. The next time that Fruiter creep bothers you in your dreams, just tell yourself that you're a Finletter. And Finletters don't let tomatoes scare them. And pretty soon, that dream bully will leave you alone and you can have peaceful night sleeps again."

"Okay, Uncle Wilbur", said Chad, not sure if that strategy would really work at all.

In a nearby trashcan, the small evil tomato known as Zoltan was busy spying. "Ooooh, the Doc's gonna want to hear about this", said Zoltan as he hopped out of the can and out the window and rolled into the direction of the edge of town.

In the evil scientist's home of Dr. Gangreen, we see Zoltan reporting what he just heard to the evil doctor.

"And you say this monstrous dream tomato was named Eddie Fruiter?" asked Gangreen.

"You bet", said Zoltan, "I've never seen that kid so paranoid before!"

"Hmmm", said Gangreen, "A tomato that even strikes fear in the heart of that meddling brat, Chad Finletter. I must recruit this Mr. Fruiter!"

"You're kidding, right?" asked Zoltan puzzled. "Didn't I tell you that this Eddie guy's only a character in a kid's dream? In otherwords, he's fiction. Not non-fiction!"

"I know that you so called know-it-all egghead tomato!" growled Gangreen as he went to his computer. "I'm just curious", Gangreen looked through the pictures of the many different forms of Killer Tomatoes and finally came across Eddie Fruiter.

"Let's see, Eddie Fruiter", said Gangreen. "Stories believed that he started out as a killer tomato that got squashed in the Great Tomato War. His evil spirit ended up in the realm known as the Dreamverse and he swore revenge on the children of the people who squashed him and his comrades by attacking them in their dreams. HA HA HA HA!" laughed Gangreen like a wildman.

"Uh oh!" thought Zoltan. "When the Doc starts doing that laughing thing, you know we're going to the next scene!"

Later, we see Gangreen and Zoltan standing out in the front yard. "Igor, bring out those special scissors", called out Gangreen.

"Coming your most impatientness", said Igor Smith running into the yard carrying some giant computerized scissors.

"Slow down you fool!" shouted Gangreen. "Didn't anyone tell you never to run with scissors! You could damage a good pair of scissors!" And he snatched the huge clippers away from Igor and started clipping the air.

"Whoa, what's he doing?" asked Igor more confused than ever.

"He's cutting up our cartoon!" gasped Zoltan. "The network's sure to chew him out for this!" Sure enough, the sinister doctor seemed to be tearing up a hole creating some kind of portal.

"Behold, gentlemen!" said Gangreen pointing to the rip he just made. "I just opened a portal to the Dreamverse!"

"Dreamverse?" asked Igor with a question mark over his head.

"You'll find out my questionable assistant!" said Gangreen as he started to step through the rip. "Igor, come with me. Zoltan, you and your Gang of 5 stay here and guard this portal. Make sure no one enters." And the doctor entered through the rip.

"I don't know about this", said Igor looking skeptical.

"Of course you don't know, you don't know anything!" called out Gangreen as he grabbed Igor by the ear and yanked him in.

Dr. Gangreen and Igor found themselves walking in a strange universe that consisted of flashing colors. And there were weird objects floating around like huge blinking eyeballs, melted watches, and toasters with bat wings.

"Whoa, this place is trippy!" said Igor.

"Impressive, isn't it?" said Gangreen. "Welcome to the Dreamverse. Whenever anyone in the world goes to sleep, their subconscious, or dreamselves to ignorant fools, end up here until they wake up."

"Look!" said Igor pointing to some kind of creature. "There's that evil chicken with the electric eggbeater from the dreams I've been having lately!" Sure enough, a monster chicken started to charge at our villains with a sharp electric eggbeater.

"Sorry, chick-babe, but I'm actually awake right now", said Igor. "But I'll see you soon the next time I go to sleep."

"Bawwk!" replied the chicken as she switched off her beater and walked away.

"She's really a swell chick", said Igor. "Sometimes on good nights, she makes me omelets."

"Forget poltergeist-like poultry!" grumbled Gangreen, "Keep your eyes out for a tomato man with a fedora!"

"You mean like that big dude?" asked Igor pointing to a huge giant in the distance. It was Eddie Fruiter. He had a screaming little girl trapped in his claw.

"Don't worry my dear", laughed Eddie. "I just want to introduce you to some of my friends. Starting with Mr. Sharp and Pointy! HA HA HA HA!" He was about to stick his finger into the trembling girl's nostril until she screamed and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"OH, BLAST!" grumbled Eddie as he shrunk down to the size of a normal sized man. "Another kid escaped my fearfest! If only there was some way to make nightmares last a little, no, make that a LOT longer!"

"Perhaps, I can be of assistance", said a voice. Eddie turned around and saw Gangreen and Igor.

"Ah, more dreaming victims!" cackled Eddie as he was about to attack the two villains, until he noticed that they were adults. "Aw, this won't do!" he moaned. "My powers of fright only work on children!"

"Everyone says I have the mind of a 2 year old!" said Igor.

"Quiet, 2 year old brain!" ordered Gangreen and then turned to Eddie. "Greetings, Mr. Fruiter. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Putrid T. Gangreen and this is my so called assistant, Igor Smith."

Eddie studied the scientist and his assistant and then sniffed them and said, "You two aren't dreaming! You're actually real wide awake people! How can you be here?"

"It's all thanks to my brilliant genius mind", said Gangreen proudly. "And with my mind, I believe I can make both our dreams come true."

"No fooling?" said Eddie smiling.

"Say, Eddie dude", said Igor. "You should really trim those fingernails. You just made that little girl pop!"

"That was not my doing!" demanded Eddie. "Whenever someone in the Dreamverse disappears like that, that means they've woken up and have escaped my clutches! Oh, I wish I could've tasted her fear right now!"

"Why don't you come with us back to Earth?" said Gangreen. "I live in a town full of scardy cats that'll be like a buffet to you."

"How, I'd love to", said Eddie, "But I can't. I can only survive in the Dreamverse. If I ever leave this realm, I'm finished!

"Oh, tomato paste!" grumbled Gangreen.

"However", said Eddie. "That rule doesn't apply to my minions." And Eddie ripped open his sweater and revealed a whole bunch of monstrous eyes and teeth.

"Some antacid can take care of that problem", said Igor looking really grossed out.

"Amazing", said Gangreen with wide eyes as he looked at the monsters living inside Eddie's stomach. "Those monstrosities even put my tomato creations to shame. I have to get them to San Zucchini!"

"Yes, I'm quite proud of my creepy crop", said Eddie, buttoning up his sweater. "The only problem is that I can only release them into the mind of a dreaming child, but the little party poopers usually wake up before I have a chance to start up my fun."

"I think I might know a way", said Gangreen and started whispering something to Eddie.

"Yes", said Eddie smiling. "It's so psychotic, that it just might work!" and the scientist and the tomato demon started laughing wickedly.

"I guess we're going to another scene", said Igor.

It was nighttime, and Chad was in his room dragging something out of his closet. F.T. made a curious squeak.

"Just a little drink before bed", said Chad as he was holding a six pack of what looked like coffee cups. F.T. made a demanding squeak.

"Yeah, I know drinking all this coffee will keep me awake", said Chad. "But I have to if I want to be safe!" And he took a sip. "YUCK! Coffee is awful! I don't even like coffee flavored candy. But it's the only way!"

F.T. was squeaking some kind of lecture at Chad.

"Please don't take that tone with me, F.T." pleaded Chad, drinking another cup. "I know I'm ignoring Uncle Wilbur's advice. But he doesn't understand. I just can't go to sleep tonight. Gee, I'm sure am thankful Uncle Wilbur is out with the Killer Tomato Task Force on an overnight stakeout. Otherwise, he'd stop me from doing this." F.T. just shook his head, picked up an empty coffee cup, and pointed to the writing on it. Chad picked it up and read it.

"Bizzarbucks Decaffeinated Coffee!" gasped Chad. "But I need the caffeine to stay awake! Oh drat! I should've figured the guy at the coffee shop wouldn't give a kid like me that strong stuff! Don't worry, Chad. It's not the end of the world. Just go to plan B!" Chad grabbed some tape and taped his eyelids wide open. "There", he smiled as he turned to F.T., "What do you think, F.T.?" The Fuzzy Tomato looked in fright at Chad's bulged out eyes and hid in the closet.

"I guess you approve of it", said Chad relieved as he sat down on his bed. Just then, he saw the door open.

"You decent in there?" asked Tara as she peeked through the door.

"Tara?" gasped Chad. "Covering his eyes with his arm. "What are you doing here?"

"Your Uncle Wilbur asked me to watch over you while he's out tonight", said Tara. "He's really concerned about you."

"Why?" asked Chad. "There's nothing you need to worry about. I'm perfectly fine staying by myself tonight. And I have F.T. with me." F.T. just made a disgusted squeak from the closet.

"What's going on here?" asked Tara as she moved Chad's arm away and found his eyelids taped back. "Chad, what do you think you're doing! You look like a character from anime! And why do you smell like coffee?"

"It's a new plan I came up with", said Chad. "I'm never going to sleep again."

"You can't be serious", said Tara. "Why don't you want to go to sleep?"

"So I can have lots of free time to do important stuff", said Chad. "Like studying, getting high scores on video games, and keeping up on important Late Show topics."

"I definitely don't think it's healthy for you humans to stay awake for the rest of your lives", said Tara. "You'll have to go to sleep eventually."

"Over my dead body!" said Chad, "Which I sure hope won't happen tonight!"

"That does it!" sighed Tara. She used her tomato telekinetic powers to lift Chad in the air, paralyzing him.

"Tara, what are you doing?" cried Chad as Tara went over and ripped the tape off his eyelids along with some of his eyebrows causing him to say, "YEOWCH!"

"I'm getting you ready for bed", said Tara as she turned her head to the bathroom and made a toothbrush and a glass of water come to her.

"You can't send me to bed!" protested Chad, "You'll, MGMGLF!" he muttered for the floating toothbrush went inside his mouth and started brushing his teeth. Then Tara used her powers to remove the toothbrush from Chad's mouth and put the glass of water in front of him.

"Now rinse and spit", said Tara. Chad complied and spit out the toothpaste flavor. Then Tara used her powers to put Chad into bed.

"No, Tara!" pleaded Chad. "You can't put me to sleep! You'll put my life in danger!"

"This Eddie Fruiter fiend is only a character in your dreams", said Tara. "He can only scare you, not hurt you."

"But I know he's real!" cried Chad. "And I know he's planning something really horrible tonight! I have this feeling that something bad will happen to me and to all of us the minute I'm asleep!"

"Which is why I'm going to sit here and watch you sleep", said Tara sitting on a nearby chair. "And if I sense that you're having that nightmare again, I'll wake you up."

"You'd really stay up all night for me?" asked Chad.

"Yes", smiled Tara. "You've always protected me from Dr. Gangreen and his minions. Now it's my turn to protect you. So go ahead and go to sleep."

"But I don't feel at all tired", said Chad.

"F.T." called out Tara. F.T. appeared and jumped on the bed and started humming a soothing lullaby.

"That does sound a little soothing", said Chad, yawning. "But I still don't feel like going to sleep."

"Maybe a kiss good night will help", said Tara, approaching Chad while puckering her lips.

"Gross!" groaned Chad. "I think I'll go to sleep now!" And he plopped his head down on his pillow, covered his head with his blanket, and went to sleep while Tara looked puzzled.

Chad soon found himself delivering a pizza to a creepy looking house. He looked at the address on the box. "13 You're Toast Lane?" gasped Chad.

"In other words, you're the one that's toast!" called out that familiar creepy voice. Chad looked in fear as he saw a giant piece of toast pop out from the roof. The toast had the face of Eddie Fruiter on it. Then the neighborhood transformed into a psychedelic void of nothingness.

"Oh no!" cried Chad as he dropped the pizza and tried to run away, until he bumped into two familiar arch enemies. Igor picked up Chad while Gangreen took out a hypo needle and stuck it in Chad's arm.

"Tara! Wake me up!" cried Chad.

"Forget it, brat!" cackled Gangreen. "Your little tomato friend can't save you now. Thanks to my special serum, you'll stay asleep for days, or months, or even years! And nothing will be able to wake you up!"

"Which means, YOU'RE MINE!" laughed Eddie as he shot some vines from his fingers and tied up Chad. All that Chad could do is watch in fear as he saw the three villains laugh at their prisoner.

Back in the real world, F.T. and Tara suddenly watched Chad struggling in his sleep. "No, I want to wake up! Tara, F.T., help!"

"CHAD!" cried Tara as she tried to shake his shoulders. But the boy didn't seem to wake up. F.T. tried to bounce up and down on Chad's stomach, but that didn't work either.

"Chad, you have to wake up!" said Tara as she tried to pry open Chad's eyelid. But instead of a pupil, she saw Eddie Fruiter's head laughing wickedly. "Oh my!" gasped a worried Tara. "I'd better call Mr. Finletter!"

Later that night, Tara, F.T., and Wilbur were gathered around Chad's bed looking concerned at the kid who just wouldn't wake up. "Tara, F.T., Uncle Wilbur!" cried Chad. "Please, somebody wake me up!"

"Hold on, Chad-boy", said Wilbur taking out a trumpet. "This always woke me up during my soldier days." And he played the trumpet into Chad's ear, but that didn't seem to work.

"Oh yeah, I forgot", said Wilbur. "I too always slept through those early morning trumpet songs. I guess heavy sleepers run in our family."

"Maybe alarm clock power will help", said Tara as she took two alarm clocks and put them over Chad's ears. The alarms were pretty loud, but that didn't wake him up either.

"NO, that's too loud!" cried Chad. "My ears can't take it!

"I was hoping we wouldn't have to resort to this", said Wilbur, taking a bucket of water and pouring it over Chad.

"I'M DROWNING!" cried Chad, "CALL THE COAST GUARD!"

"That didn't work either?" gasped Wilbur. "I thought bed wetting always worked."

F.T. made a small giggle at what Wilbur said, but then stopped giggling, for this was a serious matter.

"Please, stop this torture!" cried Chad, still asleep. "You're all merciless!"

"I just hate to think what Chad's going through in his dream", said a worried Tara.

Back in the Dreamverse, we see Chad strapped to a table with strong vines while Eddie, Gangreen, and Igor were surrounding him. "Did you have fun with our warm up fear exercises?" asked Eddie as he was holding a trumpet while Gangreen was holding two alarm clocks, and Igor a bucket of water.

"You mean there's more torture!" cried Chad.

"But of course", said Eddie with a toothy smile. "We were just tenderizing you so my little tomato children can work their talents on you."

"You have kids?"! gasped Chad, not liking what's going to happen next.

"And you're about to be promoted from pizza delivery boy to a tomato demon generator", said Gangreen taking out an eye mask with a long tube attached.

"No, what are you doing!" cried Chad as Gangreen put the mask over the boy's eyes. Chad became really scared for he knew even more scary stuff happens whenever his eyes were closed in his dreams.

"And now at long last I can release my sinister little spores!" cackled Eddie as he stuck his finger into Chad's ear. Chad suddenly saw something slowly appear in the darkness. It was a giant monster tomato with 5 eyes, drooling fangs, and 8 legs made of vines.

"A TOMATO SPIDER!" cried Chad as the spider was about to approach him and put the bite on him. But then, the spider suddenly got sucked away into the darkness somehow. Chad became relieved, but it was a short relief, for another giant tomato monster suddenly appeared. This one was a tomato crab with scary claws. Just as it was about to give Chad a huge pinch, that monster got sucked away too. Then yet another monster slowly appeared. This one was a huge red Tyrannosaurus Rex with a tomato for a head and sharp teeth with all sorts of flesh and bone stuck between its sharp fangs.

"No more monsters, please!" cried Chad as Eddie was laughing like a mad tomato with his finger still stuck in Chad's ear.

"Yes, such delicious fear!" laughed Eddie. "Thanksgiving's come early!"

"I like this tomato's style!" smiled Gangreen as he watched Eddie continue to torture poor Chad.

Igor noticed that the tube connected to the eye mask was long and the other end seemed to lead to a far distance somewhere. "Where's the other end of that tube lead to?" he asked.

"Elementary, my dear Igor", said Gangreen. "That other end leads to the real world. While our new comrade is sending his minions into that twerp's head, my newest invention is sucking out those monsters and sending them to a place where they can really cause fear and chaos."

Sure enough, the tube traveled through the Dreamverse and it led to the dimensional rip Gangreen created and it finally ended to a strange machine sitting outside the front yard. Suddenly, a door in the machine slid open, and out stepped the same giant Tomato Spider, and then the Tomato Crab, and the Tomatosaurus Rex. They all left the yard and started heading for the town. Zoltan and his Gang of 5 watched as more and more scary looking tomato demons came out from the machine and started marching to the town.

Zoltan's gang were jumping up and down squeaking for they wanted to join the tough looking tomatoes in the destruction. "Forget it you guys!" growled Zoltlan. "The Doc ordered us to guard that portal-thingy. And besides, these freaks ain't real pure juiced tomatoes. Just dream created, so they're not our kind!" The tiny tomatoes hung their heads down in disappointment.

The next morning, back in Chad's bedroom, our heroes were still wondering what to do to get Chad to wake up. "Please, somebody help!" cried Chad as it looked like tears were forming in his closed eyes.

"We tried everything!" said Wilbur, frustrated. "I just don't know what's doing this to my nephew!"

"Well we need to try more than everything!" shouted Tara grabbing Wilbur by the shirt. "My friend and your nephew is suffering in some horrible nightmare I promised I'd protect him if he was ever in trouble!"

"Do you think this is easy for me?"! demanded Wilbur. "I swore I'd always protect you, Chad, and everyone else from any danger that comes our way. But for the first time ever, I actually don't know how to save my nephew!"

Just then, the TV set on the counter was showing an important news bulletin. "This is Whitley White, bringing you an emergency news flash! All of a sudden, hundreds of unusual tomato monsters are terrorizing San Zuchinni."

Our heroes turned to the TV and saw lots of tomato demons tearing up the town and causing the citizens to flee in terror. The Tomatosaurus Rex was stomping on cars, a tomato octopus was terrorizing the beach, Tomato Slugs were spreading ketchup all over the streets, and a pterodactyl like tomato was flying around dropping egg-shaped tomatoes on the panicked citizens.

"No one has ever scene the likes of these tomatoes before", said Whitley. "It's like they've come out of a kid's nightmare." And Whitley got hit with a tomato egg covering him in some kind of red yolk. "Goodday!" grumbled the messy news reporter as the broadcast ended.

"Oh no!" cried Tara. "What a bad time for Gangreen to send out another tomato attack!"

"It looks like it's time to for me and the Killer Tomato Task Force to save San Zucchini once again!" said Wilbur. "Tara, you and F.T. stay here and look after Chad and try to do what you can to get him to wake up. CHARGE!" and Wilbur charged out of the room as Tara and F.T. still continued to watch the helpless Chad.

The Tomato Crab was snipping street signs while the Tomato Spider was shooting vines all over the place creating huge green webbing. Unfortunately, some of the members of the Killer Tomato Task Force got tangled up in the green web while the crab and spider licked their mouths in hunger.

In central San Zucchini, we see the Tomatosaurus Rex stomping on more cars and tearing up buildings. Uncle Wilbur was standing on the tallest building, eyeing the huge reptilian. "It's time to make this dino-tomato extinct for good!" said Wilbur as he jumped off the building, let his parachute open, and aimed his sword. Wilbur landed on the dinosaur's back and tried to stab it, but to his surprise, there was no slash.

"What, no bleeding ketchup?" gasped Wilbur as he tried to stab the Rex again, but couldn't. "It's like he's not even a real tomato!" The dinosaur turned his head around and saw the little pest trying to poke him like a mosquito. It just grabbed Wilbur's parachute with its jaws and slurped him up like a spaghetti string.

Wilbur then found himself falling down the Tomatosaurus Rex's esophagus. "It's a good thing I have my parachute", said Wilbur as he was falling and watching the boiling pit of tomato sauce in the stomach coming closer and closer.

Back in Chad's bedroom, F.T. was watching worriedly at Chad who was still asleep and suffering while Tara was watching the TV in fear as she saw the Killer Tomato Task Force getting defeated by these new types of tomato enemies. "Chad would probably know how to stop these monsters", cried Tara, "I've never seen such powerful, yet weird, tomatoes before. Dr. Gangreen must've pulled an all-nighter to create these. Wait a minute, ALL-NIGHTER!"

Tara went back to Chad and pulled his left eyelid open once again and found Eddie Fruiter laughing. She then pulled open Chad's right eye and found none other than Dr. Gangreen laughing like crazy. "So Dr. Gangreen is behind this tomato attack and why Chad can't wake up!" said Tara, angry with rage. "F.T., you stay here and look after Chad. I'm going on a rescue mission!" And she left the room while F.T. wondered what was going to happen.

Tara somehow managed to sneak past all the tomatoes invading the town and she arrived at the front yard of Dr. Gangreen. She hid behind a bush and saw a huge machine releasing more tomato monsters who were heading for the town. She then saw the tube attached to the machine that led to a rip leading to another dimension. "So that's where those monsters are coming from", said Tara. "I knew they weren't from this world." She was about to approach the rip, until she found herself surrounded by Zoltan and his Gang of 5.

"Hold it right there, Tomato toots!" said Zoltan with a toothy smile. "Why don't you stay awhile? So we can turn you into pretty fertilizer! Heh, heh, heh!"

"You're a regular comedian, Zoltan", said Tara sarcastically then went. "Hey look, it's George Clooney!"

"Where?"! gasped Zoltan and the other small tomatoes as they turned their heads. Tara used her tomato powers to lift up a nearby trash can and scoop up all 5 tomatoes. Then she grabbed a huge rock and put it on top of the trash can lid so they wouldn't escape and then she stepped through the portal.

"I hate it when people use the old George Clooney trick on us!" growled Zoltan.

Tara was walking while looking amazed at the world known as the Dreamverse. She then looked down at the long tube on the psychedelic ground. "This tube must lead to Gangreen", said Tara as she continued walking until she hit her head against something. It was a floating spray can. Tara grabbed it and read the label. "Instant hole", said Tara, puzzled. "This could come in useful."

Finally, she found where the tube ended. She saw Dr. Gangreen and Igor with their backs turned looking at a table with a restrained Chad with a tube connected to his face while Eddie Fruiter had his finger in Chad's ear still laughing his evil tomato head off.

"CHAD!" gasped Tara. "I've got to put a stop to this now!" She looked at the can of instant hole and said, "Time to make this scary scene more holey!" She silently came closer and sprayed some black liquid under Gangreen and Igor until it took the shape of a hole.

"Hey, Doc", said Igor looking down. "I think we got a hole something."

"A whole what?" grumbled Gangreen. "Just don't bother me while I'm enjoying this kid's suffering!"

"You're the doctor", said Igor as he suddenly fell through the hole screaming.

"I told you to be silent, Igor", grumbled Gangreen, until he turned around and saw his assistant gone. He then looked down and saw the black hole underneath him. "Oh, that hole!" said Gangreen as he ended up falling through it as well. Eddie was too busy torturing Chad to notice his two villain comrades were gone.

"That's enough you monster!" shouted Tara. Eddie turned around and was surprised to find a teenage girl standing there with a pretty ticked-off face and glowing red eyes. "I cannot forgive you for what you've done to my dearest friend!", she scowled.

"Ah, fresh meat!" drooled Eddie as he pulled his finger out of Chad's ear, "And gorgeous too! I'm gonna enjoy sinking my claws into you!" And he charged at the unmoving angry Tara until she pointed down. Eddie looked down and saw the hole. "Oh, lovely!" he growled as he fell through the hole as well.

"And for your information, I'm not fresh meat!" called out Tara. "I'm a fresh tomato!" She then ran past the hole and approached Chad. She removed the eye mask from Chad's face and studied the device. Tara suddenly saw a horde of tomato demons trying to make their way back up.

"Eyeeew!" groaned Tara as she threw the mask and tube into the hole as well. The whole tube ended up getting pulled into the hole along with the machine that was attached to it.

"Tara, is that you?" asked Chad with teary eyes suddenly realizing the villains were gone and saw a welcome friend instead.

"Yes, it's me, Chad", smiled Tara wiping the tears from his eyes. "I told you I'd protect you in your sleep. Come on, I'm taking you out of here." She untied Chad from the table and they ran away from the scene.

A green claw suddenly rose from the hole and Eddie had pulled himself up. "I am definitely NOT a happy tomato!" he growled. Then he grew into a hulking giant once again. Eddie stormed through the Dreamverse with Gangreen and Igor clutching onto the back of his pants.

"I wish we could travel first class instead of cargo!" groaned Igor.

"Silence!" moaned Gangreen, still clutching onto Eddie's bottom. "I'm going to need some serious sterilization when all of this is over!"

Chad and Tara were running through the Dreamverse trying to avoid the floating objects around them. "Look, there's the exit!" said Tara, pointing to the rip. Tara managed to jump through it sending her back into Gangreen's yard. "We made it, Chad!" said Tara happily. "Uh, Chad?" asked Tara, not finding him with her.

"TARA!" called out Chad. She turned around and found Chad still in the Dreamverse, pounding on what seemed like an invisible force field. "I can't get through!" he cried.

"Oh no!" gasped Tara. "Your body must be still asleep in the real world. Which means the only way you can escape is if you wake up!"

"But I can't wake up!" cried Chad. "Dr. Gangreen injected me a serum that'll keep me asleep for days or months or even years!" Just then, Chad was grabbed by a green claw and Eddie peeked through the rip.

"Sorry, girlie!" laughed Eddie. "But I'm not ready to have my greatest meal ticket escape my stems!"

"I'm coming, Chad!" cried Tara as she ran back through the rip. But Gangreen was waiting for her and when Tara stepped through, Gangreen poured salt on her transforming her into a helpless tomato.

"Sorry, my turncoat tomato", laughed Gangreen. "But your cute little rescue mission has ended! HA HA HA HA!"

"No, leave her alone!" cried Chad still in Eddie's claw.

"Oh, don't worry, lad", laughed Eddie as he made a small cage appear and locked Chad in it. "I'll get back to you once I POKE fun at your little tomato girlfriend! HA HA HA!" Eddie bent down as Gangreen held the Tara tomato up to him. Chad watched in horror as he saw Eddie about to jab his now even huger finger at Tara.

"How can I stop this monster!" cried Chad. "It was bad enough when he terrorized me. Now he's going to hurt Tara too! Oh, what did Uncle Wilbur tell me? I know, I'm a Finletter and Finletter's don't let tomatoes push them around!" Suddenly, Chad found himself wearing a kid's sized version of Wilbur's war uniform along with a sword. "Hey, where did all this come from?" asked Chad puzzled. Then realized that this was his dream and if he put his mind and imagination to it, he might actually have the power to defeat this dream demon.

"ATTICA!" shouted Chad as he sliced through the bars with his sword and escaped, but then the dragging parachute in the back snagged the cut bars causing Chad to fall back. "Parachutes may be fine for Uncle Wilbur, but I think I need a weapon more my style", said Chad as he imagined the parachute becoming a skateboard. "Now that's more like it!" he smiled as he felt his courage coming back and skated at high speed.

"Time to slice, dice, and make Julian tomato fries!" laughed Eddie as he was about to slice up the helpless tomato. But then a bolt zoomed by and the tomato was gone leaving Gangreen with empty hands. "All right, what did you with my victim!" growled Eddie as he picked up Gangreen and tempted to squash him. "I'm not the kind of monster who likes practical jokes!"

"I don't know!" gasped Gangreen, turning from green to blue.

"There she is", called out Igor, "Along with that kid on a cool skateboard!" Sure enough, they saw Chad in war uniform skateboarding away with the Tara tomato.

Chad found a floating pepper shaker, grabbed it, and sprinkled some pepper on the tomato. It sneezed and Chad found himself carrying Tara once again. He brought her back to the rip and carefully placed her back in the yard. "Chad?" she asked puzzled seeing a smaller version of Wilbur Finletter through the portal.

"Wait here, ma'am", said Chad with confidence. "Leave this job to a Finletter!" and he skated off while Tara watched with amazement. "If only his uncle could see him now", she thought.

Chad ended up zipping past the villains and went right under Eddie's legs. "Hey, Eddie Fruitcake!" shouted Chad, "Let's see if you can keep up with me!" and he skated off into the distance.

"How dare you taunt me in my own kingdom!" grumbled Eddie. "But I'll accept your little challenge. Just to show you that it doesn't pay to mess with Eddie Fruiter!" and he made his own skateboard appear and started chasing after the boy.

"What is going on here?" asked Gangreen with a confused look.

"I think the kid's making a fool of your new partner", said Igor.

Eddie was chasing Chad through the psychedelic world, but the kid was pretty fast on a skateboard. And he seemed to be skilled at dodging the floating objects. "Let's see how you handle a change of scenery!" laughed Eddie as he transformed the Dreamverse into a skate park filled with twisted ramps and dangerous loop-de-loops. "Time to crash and burn, kid!" cackled Eddie. But he was shocked to find Chad skating through all the twists and turns with ease making wild 360s and not falling off once. "No! What kind of child is this!" gasped Eddie too flabbergasted to realize he drove over a huge ramp and crashed onto the pavement.

"I'm disappointed", said Chad, doing circles around Eddie who had fallen on his face. "I was hoping your skate park would be more of a challenge. But I guess it's understandable since you seem to stink at it!" And he skated off laughing.

"Why you little brat!" growled Eddie. "Maybe some faster wheels are what I need!" And he transformed himself into a huge red race car with his green eyes becoming headlights and started zooming after Chad.

"Go get him, Fruiter!" shouted Gangreen. "Run him over like a mindless squirrel on the road!"

Eddie raced through the Dreamverse trying to find his prey until he heard a police siren. He stopped and spotted Chad dressed as a state trooper with a siren on his skateboard. "Hold it right thar, speed demon!" said Chad in a bad southern accent. "Let's see yer license and registration!"

"Well, um, um", said Eddie surprised and stuttering. "I don't really have one on me."

"That's what they all say", said Chad writing a bunch of tickets. "Here's a ticket fer speedin', here's another one fer havin' no license plates on yer front and back, and one fer having only one workin' headlight!"

"What do you mean only one working headlight?" asked Eddie, blinking his headlight eyes.

"I mean THIS!" said Chad, taking out a nightstick and poking Eddie in the eye. Then Chad skated off laughing out loud.

Eddie was rubbing his eye with his fender as fire started to appear in his undamaged eye. He transformed back into his original self and then grew back into the scary giant. "NOW YOU'VE MADE ME COMPLETELY MAD!" he roared as he started stomping through the Dreamverse causing everything to shake, including Gangreen and Igor.

"I hate to be that kid now!" said Igor as he and the doctor fell down.

Eddie stormed through the Dreamverse, trying to find Chad. Just then, he found himself shrinking down to his normal size again. "Oh no!" he growled. "I'm running low on power! That brat's not afraid of me anymore!" Eddie kept running while panting as he came across the rip that led to the real world. "Where are you, you punk!" he hollered. "You're not supposed to leave the Dreamverse!"

"Don't worry, I'm still here for you!" called out Chad's voice. Eddie turned around and saw Chad back in Wilbur's uniform, doing a really huge flip on his skateboard, jumping off of it, and launching his foot directly at Eddie's face. "BANZAI!" shouted Chad as he kicked Eddie straight in the kisser, sending him through the rip and onto Gangreen's front yard.

"Why you little….?"! Growled Eddie, but then looked around and realized where he was. "I'm in the real world!" he gasped. Then he saw his claws start to sizzle and crumble. "NOOOO! I'm not supposed to be in the world of the awake!" he cried as he suddenly felt his tomato head boil. "I can't survive in this atmosphere!" he howled as he suddenly found himself melting. "WHAT A WORLD! WHAT AN WIDE AWAKE WORLD!" cried Eddie until all that was left of him was a puddle of bubbling marinara and a fedora hat.

"Eeyeew!" groaned Tara as she approached the tomato mess on the lawn. "To tell you the truth, I don't actually feel sorry to see that tomato monster get turned to paste!" Then she turned around and saw all the tomato demons that were attacking the town suddenly melt away too.

The Tomato Crab and Spider melted into red ooze along with the web that had captured the Killer Tomato Task Force, freeing them. And finally, The Tomatosaurus Rex was about to trash the pizza palace until it too melted into a huge pile of ketchup on the street. And in the middle of the mess was an unharmed Wilbur.

"A ketchup covered street near my Tomatoless Pizza Palace!" gasped Wilbur, "How unforgivable!"

Gangreen and Igor were peeking through the rip as they saw their partner become dead tomato paste. "Aw, the lawn I worked for hours on is ruined"! moaned Igor.

"Who cares!" shouted Gangreen. "We just lost another great tomato warrior thanks to that snot nosed little twerp!"

"Ahem!" called out a voice behind them. Gangreen and Igor turned around and saw Chad standing there, but then growing to the size of a huge giant.

"Snot nosed little twerps sure grow up fast these days!" said Igor.

"If I'm going to be stuck in this world for days, or months, or even years, thanks to you", said Chad calmly. "Then I want you both OUT OF MY DREAMS!" And he bent down, flicked his finger at the villains, knocking them through the rip and back on Earth.

"I think he was serious", said Igor.

"A minor setback", said Gangreen taking out his computerized scissors. "I still have my special scissors. I'll just cut a few more portals to the Dreamverse somewhere else and find more dream demons to recruit!"

"That's what you think!" called out Tara as she used her powers to snatch the scissors away from Gangreen. Then she levitated Gangreen and Igor into the air and stuffed them into the same trash can she put Zoltan and his crew in.

"Aw, you messed up our new abode!" grumbled Zoltan's voice. "And we just finished redecorating!"

"I can tell", said Igor. "Cool wallpaper! Are they expired pizza coupons?"

"Yep", said Zoltan. "They came with the can."

"Curses!" mumbled Gangreen from inside.

"Scissors should only be used for cutting stuff like paper, cloth, ribbons, and human nails", said Tara, "Not for cutting open portals into people's dreams." And she used her powers to melt the scissors, destroying them. That caused the portal to the Dreamverse to slowly vanish.

"Oh no, Chad!" cried Tara, seeing the rip slowly seal itself up. "We still haven't gotten you out of there yet!"

"Don't worry, Tara", called out Chad through the closing rip. "I'll wake up one of these years. Until then, please take care of F.T. for me. Will you?"

"Okay, Chad", said Tara with tears in her eyes as she saw the portal suddenly disappear from sight along with her dearest friend.

Later, we find our heroes back in the bedroom watching the sleeping Chad.

"We may have defeated those tomato fiends, but we still don't know what to do about Chad", said Wilbur. "But at least it looks like he's sleeping more peacefully." Sure enough, Chad was sleeping more relaxed with a proud smile on his face.

"I don't know if this will work", said Tara. "But I remember in those fairy tales that a sleeping princess usually wakes up from a kiss. Maybe a kiss from me will wake up Chad."

Wilbur and F.T. silently watched as Tara was slowly about put her lips on Chad's face. But before she could kiss him, Chad quickly rose up and pushed Tara back. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" he shouted.

"Chad, you're awake!" smiled Tara with teary eyes as she hugged him.

"I guess I am" asked Chad puzzled as F.T. jumped into his arms and started licking him.

"Chad, boy", gasped Uncle Wilbur with a huge relieved smile. "Are you all right? You were asleep for such a long time! And it looked like you were suffering too!"

"I just had the worst nightmare ever, Uncle Wilbur", said Chad. "I dreamt that Eddie Fruiter had teamed up with Dr. Gangreen and they tortured me to the max. But then Tara came and tried to help, but she ended up getting caught by those creeps. But then I remembered the advice you gave me yesterday and it saved me. Wow, Uncle Wilbur's advice was actually helpful? That really was a dream! Oops, sorry Uncle Wil… Um, guys?" Chad looked around and found Wilbur and Tara asleep on the floor and F.T. asleep on his bed. They were all too exhausted from staying up all night trying to help Chad and defeating those tomato demons.

"I guess I'll go make everyone breakfast", smiled Chad as he carefully got out of bed not to wake F.T. and left the room. Then Chad came back in. "On behalf of the network, I want to apologize if today's episode seemed really scary", said Chad. "It's weird. Usually that annoying censor lady comes in and stops us from doing creepy stuff like that. I wonder what happened to her?"

In another bedroom, we see The Censor Lady sleeping in bed having her own dream. She dreamt she was in a world filled with happiness, nothing scary, violent, or offensive, and different kinds of people living in peace and harmony. "There's nothing here in this politically correct world for me to censor!" gasped the Lady. "MY WORST NIGHTMARE HAS COME TRUE!"

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I hope you enjoyed my first Attack of the Killer Tomatoes fanfic. You know, I think this site should put up a Killer Tomatoes section in their cartoon listings. It's a good way to revive that neat forgotten Saturday morning series, in fanfic forms.


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